 Joey DeFrancesco Live: The Authorized Bootleg
In April of 2006, Joey teamed up with veteran tenor sax man George Coleman for a four night gig at Yoshi's jazz club in Oakland. The sound engineer at Yoshi's, Dan Petit, recorded the concert and as soon as Joey heard it he was blown away. Joey said "George is on fire .. you've gotta hear this stuff, that's it ... this is my next album". It was not planned, but luckily the right sound engineer was at the right place and time to capture the magic when these hard-bop titans payed their hearts out for the eager audience. The resulting CD, Live: The Authorized Bootleg, was released on March 6th. Joey DeFracesco Trio © Howard A. Gitelson
This isn't the first project that Joey DeFrancesco and George Coleman collaborated on together. In 2006 Joey DeFrancesco's adventurous release, Organic Vibes, teamed his regular rhythm section, consisting of swinging drummer Byron Landham and Juno nominated guitarist, Jake Langley with Ron Blake on saxes and flute and jazz legends Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone and George Coleman on tenor.
Part of Joey's motivation for including Coleman on his projects, besides the fact that even at 70 he is still a monster on tenor, is that Joey wants Coleman to get the recognition he deserves. The jazz intelligentsia has never allowed Coleman to enter the pantheon of tenor giants where he belongs. Listening to his work with Miles on the live recordings Four and More and My Funny Valentine and also on Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage, one wonders why. These were some of the most significant jazz recordings of the '60s. Mile Davis, in his autobiography, said that his complaint about Coleman was that he didn't make any mistakes, which Davis took to mean that he wasn't taking enough risks. However, listening to those classic recordings and hearing Coleman blow flat-out, laying it on the line with Joey and his trio at Yoshi's makes it hard to deny that Coleman is a one of the greats.
 George Coleman
Live: The Authorized Bootleg, opens with a bang with "Cherokee", Coleman opens with an engaging solo intro and then ups the tempo when he brings in the band and continues to tear it up with about four minutes of amazing choruses Then Joey answers with a blistering solo of his own, quoting a bit of Coleman's solo back to him [click here to listen to Cherokee]. The next tract is followed by Lee Morgans "Ceora", a hard-bop classic that Coleman nails. Jake Langley also displays his bebop prowess on his solo, Joey's solo follows and then George and Byron swap fours and twos for a while. Coleman sits out and guest vocalist Colleen McNabb joins the trio and sweetly sings the ballad "I'm in the Mood for Love" while Joey comps with a tone somewhere between a vibraphone and a Rhodes sound with the Hammond. A swinging and harmonically dense "On Green Dolphin Street" is next with Coleman opening and Joey following and Byron gets the final solo. The tempo then slows for "Little Girl Blue" and Coleman provides a wonderful round tone, frequently reaching down to the bottom of the tenor's range and then traveling up near the top and displays amazing proficiency as he solos. Joey steps in, and in short order leaves no doubt that he is the worlds greatest B3 player. Jake then is allowed to deliver his soulful, bluesy solo before Colman returns to close the number.
The CD closes with the standard and bop classic, "Autumn Leaves" [click here to listen to Autumn Leaves]. Colman once again provides a mellow intro and then jumps into a blistering solo. Jake follows, once again exercising his bop-chops, before Joey displays his musicianship and mastery on the B3 with an incredible solo.  Joey DeFracesco with Colleen McNabb © Andrea Canter
Joey gives plenty of space to Coleman throughout. Coleman is featured heavily on this CD, but don't forget that Joey is the greatest B3 player in the world and this band is arguably the best jazz organ trio playing today. They are so tight they can relax enough to explore the beauty of these standards with spontaneity and imagination. "These songs have been played a million times,” says DeFrancesco, “but the level of live playing here is what gives the music its bebop and post-bebop beauty. We’re all playing in the moment—balls to the wall.”
Live: The Authorized Bootleg is one of the best recordings I have heard in quite a while. I strongly recommend it.
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Friday, 04 July 2008
